Charlie Kaufman

"I really don't have any solutions, and I don't like movies that do. I want to create situations that give people something to think about." - Charlie Kaufman

Hollywood’s reigning King of Quirk, Charlie Kaufman has whisked us through wormholes and brought us into alternate dimensions with his surrealist masterpieces Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Given his impressive oeuvre, it’s little wonder that Kaufman’s fabulous flights of fancy have earned him an Oscar, a BAFTA and an Independent Spirit Award.

MAGNETISM

Generally speaking, 5' 5" guys with bad posture don’t garner much attention from the fairer sex. Fortunately there’s far more to Charlie Kaufman than just his small frame and kinky hair. This diminutive genius also possesses a sparkling wit, a razor-sharp mind and a few million dollars in the bank. Perhaps that explains why he was snatched up years ago by his lovely wife, Denise. The pair presently live in Pasadena, California, along with their two children.

SUCCESS

Charlie Kaufman is the first to admit that he doesn’t like talking about himself. Luckily, many others do. Film critic Richard Corliss has labeled him “America’s only intellectually provocative screenwriter,” and respected columnist Peter Travers has called Kaufman a “true original.” His genius has also been recognized by many of the country’s leading publications including Premiere magazine, which included him on their 2003 list of the 100 most powerful people in Hollywood and Time, which named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2004. Kaufman’s clout should only continue to increase as he adds to his remarkable oeuvre.

Charlie Kaufman Biography

Charles Stewart Kaufman was born November 19, 1958, in New York, New York, but grew up in Connecticut, where he displayed a knack for creative expression from an early age. “I started out when I was a little kid thinking I wanted to be an actor,” he says. “I read a lot of plays, did community theater and summer stock. I also had a Super-8 movie camera and made a lot of Super-8 movies.”

charlie kaufman begins contributing to national lampoon

Charlie Kaufman’s talent for stagecraft eventually led him to Central Connecticut State College, where he enrolled in the school’s acting program. However, the classes failed to capture his imagination, and he transferred to NYU following his freshman year to study film production. The Big Apple brought out the best in him, and he soon began churning out a number of promising student films. He also made his foray into professional writing during this time by selling a selection of comedic articles to National Lampoon. "I think they paid $25 each," he recalls. "And that was exciting… I remember that the first big check I got from the Lampoon was a thousand-something. I Xeroxed it."

charlie kaufman moves to l.a.

Upon graduating, Charlie Kaufman moved to Minneapolis, where he worked in the Star Tribune’s circulation department for 4 1/2 years. He also began penning a number of spec scripts for shows like Married… With Children and Newhart. Although none of his ideas were accepted, Kaufman never stopped believing in himself or his talent and he moved to Los Angeles in 1991 in the hopes of becoming a showbiz star. "I got myself an agent and moved out during hiring season,” he says. “I got nothing. Not even interviews.” Just as he was about to pack up his Jetta and move back to Minneapolis, Kaufman received a huge break when he was hired to write a pair of episodes for the short-lived sitcom Get A Life. That one gig led to a number of other opportunities and Charlie Kaufman spent the next four years contributing to prime time programs like The Edge, Ned and Stacey and The Dana Carvey Show.

charlie kaufman receives his first oscar nomination

Charlie Kaufman made the leap from the boob tube to the big screen in 1999 with Being John Malkovich, a brilliant film about a puppeteer who discovers a portal leading into the head of the movie star John Malkovich. Despite its rather obtuse plot, the movie raked in more than $22 million at the box office and earned Kaufman his first Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. The critical acclaim was especially sweet, since Kaufman was skeptical the script would ever be produced. "I wrote it just to get assignment work,” he admits. “I never thought anyone was going to make it."

charlie kaufman scores again with human nature

The success of Being John Malkovich had producers lining up for Charlie Kaufman’s next script, and he responded in 2001 with Human Nature, a philosophical burlesque about a man raised in the wild. The offbeat film earned Kaufman a Best Screenplay award from The National Board of Review while further enhancing his reputation as one of America’s most creative writers.

charlie kaufman has a year to remember

Charlie Kaufman returned to the big screen in 2002 with not one, but two films. First up was Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, an amusing take on the life and times of eccentric game show impresario Chuck Barris. Directed by George Clooney and starring Sam Rockwell, the film went on to win seven honors including a Best Writer award for Kaufman from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Kaufman also scored another major coup later that year with Adaptation, a highly imaginative meta-narrative about his struggle to adapt a bestselling novel into a screenplay. The multi-layered film was a huge hit with critics and fans alike and earned Charlie Kaufman his second Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay.

Charlie Kaufman finally received his very own Oscar statuette in 2004 with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, an extraordinary film about a couple who undergo a procedure to erase one another from their memories. Directed by Michel Gondry and starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, the film also earned Kaufman Best Screenplay honors from the BAFTA Awards, the London Critics Circle, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the Washington Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review.

charlie kaufman makes his directorial debut with synecdoche, new york

Charlie Kaufman made his directorial debut in 2008 with Synecdoche, New York, a film he also wrote and produced. By far his most serious work to date, the multilayered movie tells the story of an anguished playwright who is forced to deal with several women in his life while working on the most ambitious project of his career. Despite a somewhat muddled premise, the film still managed to win Kaufman a number of prestigious honors including an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and a Best Screenplay award from the Austin Film Critics Association.